NBA Game Summary - Dallas at Detroit

Auburn Hills, MI (Basketball News) - Josh Howard scored 24 points and Dirk Nowitzki added 22 with 10 rebounds to lead the Dallas Mavericks to a 95-88 victory over the Detroit Pistons at The Palace.

Keith Van Horn contributed 17 points for the Mavericks, who have won six of their last seven games. The Mavericks, who opened a four-game road trip, avenged a 101-85 loss to the Pistons earlier in the season in Dallas.

Detroit’s Chauncey Billups led all scorers with 26 points. Ben Wallace pulled down 17 rebounds to go along with 10 points in the loss and Richard Hamilton scored 23 for the Pistons, who have lost four of their last five games.

"That’s a tough team we played," said Billups. "That’s one of the best road teams in the NBA. They’re very dangerous, got a lot of shooters."

Dallas blew a 17-point lead, but regained the lead in the third quarter and led the rest of the way.

"We fought back and got the game where we wanted it," said Billups. "(But) they kept hitting shots, they never cooled off. You can go home at the end of the day and sleep at the end of the night when you know that a team beat you with all jumpers."

The Mavericks had a five-point lead after three quarters and back-to-back threes by Van Horn early in the final frame helped Dallas maintain the advantage. A three-pointer by Jason Terry extended the Dallas lead to 89-76 and a dunk by Shawn Bradley made it 91-76.

Detroit got to within seven, 93-86, with 1:55 to go, but did not score again until a basket by Hamilton cut the Mavericks’ lead to 93-88 with just 18.9 seconds left.

Finley’s two free throws with 15.6 to go finished the scoring.

A basket by Howard early in the first quarter snapped a 6-6 tie and the Mavericks led the rest of the half. The field goal sparked an 11-2 run which was capped by a three by Finley for a 17-8 advantage.

Dallas’ lead grew to 22-10 on a basket by Howard with 4:40 left in the opening frame and the Mavericks would take a 30-19 cushion into the second. The Mavs began the second stanza with a 10-4 run to increase the lead to 40-23 lead.

"We started the game off with five turnovers in the first quarter that led to 10 points," said Gar Heard, who is filling in for head coach Larry Brown. "You can’t spot a team like the Dallas Mavericks 10 points unless you play perfect basketball the rest of the way. I thought the starters played hard and fought back, but we have to find a way to get some production from the bench."

Detroit closed the half strong and trailed, 42-33, at the break.

Howard had 13 first-half points to lead all scorers. Finley, who was 8-of-8 from three-point range on Saturday against Cleveland, was 2-of-3 from beyond the arc before the break.